Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Thank You, John

It was with considerable sadness that I learned of John Caldwell's decision to step down as Editor-in-Chief of PokerNews. John's stewardship of the PN site grew ever more impressive to me as I learned more and more about the operation, and the strengths that John brought as EIC were, I believe, things that all poker editors, writers, and poker media in general should strive for... even as the rest of us generally fall far short of those standards.

John's work ethic is legendary, as is his CrackBerry addiction. (Pauly's dream of a CrackBerry-free lunch with John, as noted over at the Tao of Poker blog, is a big funny. Prop bets?) John also shied away from the spotlight as well as any editor or writer I could name, always mindful that he wasn't the story -- it was just his job to cover it. And, no matter what stresses of the moment were at hand, you can always count on John to stay focused on the big picture.

Among other things, he's been a great mentor to all of us at PN, and he deserves my thanks and appreciation for that. So, thank you, John.

Recent events have demonstrated to me that getting out the true and full stories of the AP and UB cheating scandals is going to entail significant legal effort, in addition to all the legwork of the past several years. Such is the nature of the beast. While I've resisted doing so for years, it's finally time to ask: Do you have some spare change to contribute to the cause? I'm going to be needing to mount both offensive and defensive legal efforts in the months ahead, and any contributions to cover these expenses are gratefully appreciated.

Who am I? A veteran writer/editor with decades of published writing credits, and at one time the Editor-in-Chief of PokerNews.com (though these days, "Tony G" is a dirty word to me). Currently continuing work on a book on the AP and UB scandals, to be published by Dimat Publishing in late 2012 or early 2013.